I went to Safeway today to do the mix and match deals.Mix and Match = certain items at Safeway that are on sale, WYB 10 they are even more on sale.Example- Rice o Roni --- Reg price 1.69 ea Sale Price 1.25 ea When you buy 10 (mix and match) .75 ea

It came up to 36.84 before sales or couponsSafeways has a deal when you buy $25 frozen food you get $10 off your next orderAfter sales it was $23.97I used 3 coupons that were- Buy 1 steamfresh meal for 2 get one steamfresh veggie for free

My Final total ended up being $14.47 and I recieved a $10 off couponSo really it all cost $4.47 for 3 meals for 2 and 3 veggies

Then on my way home I dropped by target for one more quaker dealTotal OOP $0I used a giftcard from my last purchaseIf I had to pay it would have been $5 after coupons and I got 10 boxes of Quaker cereal and Granola Bars.

Total was five items for $1.50 ea = $7.50They gave me a $5 GC so my total was $2.50 for 5 items or .50 an item

Now here is the best part, my oatmeal boxes I had purchased had $4 worth of mystery coupons inside.I bought this oatmeal because of the $4 coupons, I had no idea what they were I just new that they would help me with more of this sale.Inside they were:$1 off Life cereal$1 off instant oatmeal$1 off 2 quaker granola bars$1 true delights granola bars

I double checked at target and these items were all part of the deal.My next trip used these 4 coupons that ended up being 5 items.2.50 + 2.50 + 2.50 + 2.00 + 2.00 = $11.50 (the quaker granola bars were only $2)My Coupons were totaled at $4So $11.50 - $4 = $7.50 minus $5 Gift Card = $2.50 or .50 per item again.

How cool!

I ended up doing this deal 5 times so I ended up with 25 Quaker items for $12.50We now have enough granola bars, instant oatmeal, and cereal for 3 months. All for only $12.50!

I plan in my budget for a few boxes and I try to hide them so that they last longer. Too bad my hiding spots aren't so good. Oh well.

These are our new favorite flavor. Samoas. When I was little I used to not like coconut at all. It is still not a huge favorite of mine, but...I live it on these cookies. They are caramelly, chocolatey, and coconutty. They are so good.

I also love to support the girl scouts. This money they raise helps them for their trips and projects throughout the year. This year not too far from my house there were people ripping off the girl scouts. They were spending counterfeit twenty dollar bills with them. How sad... These young girls did not know any better. I feel terrible for them. So, I went and bought more cookies, and donated money to the cause.

A week or so later they had caught up with some of the crooks and they are now in jail, this still does not excuse the crime. I hope that all this gets taken care of and that the troops affected get there money back. Money is not everything, but it helps the girls to be able to afford to do fun outings.

I like thicker bread for sandwiches because I think it makes them tastier.

It is called Oatmeal Bread. (This time I did use a recipe...here it is)

Combine in Large Bowl (I use my kitchenaid)

1 c. quick oats

1/2 c. whole wheat flour

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 T. Salt

2 T. Margarine

Heat 2 c. Water to boiling

Pour over dry mixture and stir in to combine. (I use the dough hook attachment)

In separate bowl dissolve 2 packages of yeast in 1/2 C. warm water

Once the batter has cooled to luke warm (took me about 20 minutes)

Stir in:

5 c. white flour

When dough is stiff enough to handle turn onto floured board and knead for 10 minutes (again, I used my kitchenaid) Place in greased bowl, cover, and let rise till doubled.

Punch down and let rise again. (this is where I started changing things, once the dough had risen once I punched it down and split it into two loaves and placed the dough into two greased loaf pans. Then I let it rise 40 minutes)

Shape into two loaves and place in greased 9 x 5 x 3 pans.

Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes

Cool on rack and coat crust with margarine for a softer crust.

This bread tastes great fresh out of the oven. For sandwiches I let it set overnight

Here is another pantry recipe that I made tonight. We had all the ingredients and it sounded good. I used some leftover chicken from when I roasted a couple the other week. I had picked the chickens clean from the bone and froze the pickin's and turned the bones into stock.

I heated in a saucepan

about 2 cups of chopped chicken (fully cooked)

the leftover rice from last night (about 1 1/2 cups)

1 can rotel tomatoes

1 can green chili salsa

1 can cream of chicken and mushroom soup

1 cup shredded cheddar

Once that was heated through I took tortillas and smeared them with refried beans straight from the can. Then I took a spoonful of the mixture fromthe pan and put it in the middle, rolled the tortilla, and put it seam side down in a baking dish. (note: my tortillas were too long so I chopped one side so that they fit perfect in the pan.)

Once my pan was full I covered with cheddar cheese and baked at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

Serve with sour cream. We also had corn on the side. Dessert was navel oranges.

This made 2 pans of enchiladas (one is in the freezer and also 2 cups of filling I froze for other meals)

Not too bad. Earlier in the week I dropped by Walmart and picked up 3 loaves of bread, 3 pounds of cheddar cheese, and 4 pounds of turket lunchmeat all for around $20. This will last for two weeks of Sandwiches for us.

My total for groceries this week is 31.72. Hopefully all I need till next weekend is half and half, and 1 gallon of milk, (it should only cost $4). That brings me to $35 for the week.

One of my favorite weekend breakfast is biscuits and gravy. It is so easy to make and is a yummy filling breakfast/brunch item here.

Some weekends I go all out and roll out the biscuits and cut them, sometimes I used the canned ones (bought on sale for less that 35 cents a pack) and sometimes I just make drop biscuits. That’s what I did this weekend. They were yummy.

One thing we do not cut corners on is meat. We purchase it from a butcher who is about 5 miles away from our home. In the country that translates to "Really Really Close." Their beef is grass fed, their chickens are free range, everything about it screams fresh. We spend about 40 dollars a month on meat. That includes 2 pounds of ground pork sausage, 6 pounds of ground beef, 1 whole chicken, bacon or chorizo, ham bones, and a couple other things. I think it is well worth the money to have this meat for us. The quality is wonderful and the taste is to die for.

Anyways I use 1/2 a pound of ground pork in my gravy. I brown it and add red pepper flakes and fresh ground black pepper, and then take it out of the pan. I leave the drippings in there for my gravy. I add flour and milk and as soon as it thickens I add the sausage back in. By the time the gravy is all thickened my biscuits are done. Depending who all is home I might make eggs too, you never know round here. This breakfast is easy, I always have the ingredients on hand, it only takes 3 pots/pans, and it is ready in 30 minutes. What's not to love.

It is a hard pill for me to swallow. The fact that the Economy is very weak right now. I am always so optimistic and I am also a problem solver. If business is down normally with a little more hard work I can scrounge up some more business and there you have it, business is back to normal again. This past few months I can not fix the problem. Sales are down and I do not know how to fix it. Unfortunately my half full glass has sprung a leak in it and is slowly becoming half empty.

How can I fix this?I might not be able to get people to spend more money, but I am thinking I can cut corners in my business so that my end number is the same as before. I am not talking about serving a inferior product, I am thinking by always buying my pieces and parts and supplies on sale it will save money. I have never really had to do this before because business was profitable. Now it looks like a good time to start.

I do not want to fail in this recession (if that’s what y'all want to call it). I will not let the recession win. I will beat it. It is just going to take a little more work.

My plan I to start looking through store sales ads. Also clipping more coupons. Luckily I can buy my products just about anywhere and be fine. Now I need to remember I HAVE to use a coupon. I hope that K-mart does the doubles thing again. If I had known about it earlier this time I would have saved more money. I will keep my eye out for that. I hope it happens again.

The other week I bought a bunch of Softsoap with coupons. This is for the business, we wash our hands a lot. The store I normally would buy these from charge $1.49 each. The ones that I just purchased were on sale for .89 and I had a .35 off coupon. They were only .54, that is almost 1/3 of the price I was paying before. This is just one example of how I can do it.

When I set my mind to something I am pretty successful. I will stay updated on how this works out for me.

I always challenge myself to cooking new versions of meals we love by using items from our pantry. If I can do this once a week it helps me know what all is in my pantry. It also makes sure the food inside the pantry stays fresh.

Tonights meal was a play on Swedish Meatballs.

For the gravy, I used a can of beef gravy mixed with a can of cream of mushroom soup. I thinned it with a touch of milk and I sauteed some thinly sliced onions and added those in.

For the meatballs, I minced fresh onion (b/c I had no dried onion) mixed it with oatmeal (b/c I had no breadcrumbs) added a splash of worcestershire sauce, an egg, and a splash of milk. Once it was all mixed I scooped them out onto a cookie sheet and baked them for 10 minutes at 400 degrees.

Once the meatballs were done in the oven I sank them into the gravy and left them there until the rice was done.

If you can tell, I NEVER measure a thing. Mostly my meals taste great but they do not make good meals to share recipes of because it is "a splash of this, handful of that..."

I cooked some long grain rice and some green peas.

Dinner was a success. It was quick and easy, and it used a few random pantry items.

NOTE: I used a pound of fresh ground beef. It ended up making 32 meatballs. We only put 12 into dinner and are saving the others for Spaghetti and Meatballs, and Meatball Sub Sandwiches.

I could not believe it. I live in the land of no doubles and as I was going trough my paper last week I noticed "doubles up to $2" I froze, there is no way…. I had to check it out.

I went once and I bought over 50 dollars worth of product for 18.87. I know I should have aimed for a lower end number but as part of the almost 19 dollars I got 3 pounds worth of coffee, and a new coupon notebook. The coffee is great because it was normally 11 dollars for all of it and I scored it for $4.50. The notebook was not on sale but was totally cute and I like it. It was $4.99.

Other things I snagged were Halls Cough Drops 3 bags--FREE Reach Toothbrush 3--FREE Smartwater 4 bottles--FREE Compleats Meals 4--- .50 each Lysol Disinfectant Spray 1---FREE Sobe Lifewater 3 bottles-- .47 each (they should have been free but oh well) I was so exhausted at this point I was ok with it. That and I did not Notice until I was in the car. Bayer Aspirin 1 bottle-- FREE Betty Crocker Cookie Mix 4 bags--.87 each

Not too bad. I was pretty happy with it all. Now I can make cookies the lazy way. After all this double coupon shopping I am tired but cookies do sound good.

I am not used to this double coupon deal, I have heard through the grapevine that it might be continuing once a month. I will have to keep my eyes out. I did not make it to K-mart till Friday. Next time I will start earlier in the week. For heck sake, it is only 3 minutes from my work. With a little more planning there will be A LOT more savings next time.